Depictions of Life in Movies During the Great Depression

706 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Feminism in crime film

Movies in the Great Depression were outlets that the American people used to escape the daily hardships and struggles of their lives. Three genres emerged and flourished during this time period: comedy, musicals, and gangster films. Each genre depicted life in the Great Depression in different yet similar ways. While watching the movies, you can see that money played a large part in the plot. Justice and the law are also reoccurring themes. The treatment and depiction of women in these films is one aspect that is interesting to study and look at, as well. Women’s rights was still a hot button issue, and it is plain to see that by viewing such films as “Room Service”, “The Public Enemy”, and “Gold Diggers of 1937”. The movie “Room Service” is a comedic movie directed by William Seiter starring the Marx Brothers, Lucille Ball, and Ann Miller. The movie is based around men who wish to put on a play, but they do not have anybody willing to give them money and back their play. Their living arrangements are a hotel that believes they will get paid back for all of the money the men are charging. Unbeknownst to the hotel manager, the men are completely broke. The hotel manager tries to kick them out when he realizes that he will never see the money that they owe, but shenanigans ensue to the point where they fake illness and towards the end death. The play goes off with only a few hitches, and the hotel manager passes out due to the stress of these men. Lucille Ball’s character, Christine Marlowe, helps the men, and in the end, she actually is the one to get them a backer. It is interesting to note that Christine is the only one in the movie that has a steady job, and she has one of the bigger roles. In contrast to Christine, Ann Miller’s... ... middle of paper ... ... charm in order to get the benefits of their boyfriend or husband’s riches. This makes women seem conniving yet also powerless without a man. The Depression Era was chaotic and detrimental to most Americans, but it was also a time of growth in some ways. Women playing major roles in movies during this time period was becoming more and more common. Women were viewed in many different ways though. In “Room Service”, women were viewed as hard-working, influential individuals, but they were also very invested and dependent on love. In “The Public Enemy”, women were viewed as something that could be thrown away when they were of no more use, and finally in “Gold Diggers of 1937”, women were viewed as sneaky, smart people who would to whatever they had to do to accomplish their goals. These conflicting views of women show depth and diversity in a dark, dreary time period.

Show More
Related

  • Elaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    May begins by exploring the origins of this "domestic containment" in the 30's and 40's. During the Depression, she argues, two different views of the family competed -- one with two breadwinners who shared tasks and the other with spouses whose roles were sharply differentiated. Yet, despite the many single women glamorized in popular culture of the 1930's, families ultimately came to choose the latter option. Why? For one, according to May, for all its affirmation of the emancipation of women, Hollywood fell short of pointing the way toward a restructured family that would incorporate independent women. (May p.42) Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday and Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, for example, are both forced to choose between independence and a happy domestic life - the two cannot be squared. For another, New Deal programs aimed to raise the male employment level, which often meant doing nothing for female employment. And, finally, as historian Ruth Milkman has also noted, the g...

    Read More

  • The Great Depression In The Film Cinderella Man

    1501 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Depression was a time in American history where economic difficulties affected almost every person. It could turn the “best of the best” into just another beggar on the street. It is difficult for a movie to portray the true struggles of people who lives during that time. Although Cinderella Man is a fictional account of the life of Ray Braddock, it is an accurate portrayal of the problems faced by many Americans during the Great Depression. The struggles of daily life during the depression, references to problems later addressed by the New Deal, and social issues brought on by the Great Depression are all realistically described in this movie.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Dolly Parton

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    " Hollywood producers influenced by the backlash trend in the media, created a series of movies that pitted the angry career woman against the domestic maternal "Good woman"."

    Read More

  • The Film Industry During the Great Depression

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Depression is when the film industry boomed with new types of movies like: gangster films and musicals. They were both born in the Great Depression. Most films show the hardships of the time period. Some of the films display this very well for example Modern Times staring Charlie Chaplin. One of the more well-known gangster films was The Public Enemy.. These films have very different views of the time period but still have things in common. This paper will compare Modern Times and The Public Enemy.

    Read More

  • A 360 View on Life During the Great Depression

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1929 the United States had entered an economic slump known as the Great Depression. The Great Depression was the longest financial decline in American history. The sudden, devastating collapse of US stock market prices on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday, was just the beginning of this economic decline. The Great Depression changed society, socially and economically in many ways, including: family life, crime rates, and businesses.

    Read More

  • American Culture and Lifestyle During The Great Depression

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Depression was one of the most important historical events that has happened within the last century that impacted every Americans life one way or another. There were many factors that could be an explanation of why The Great Depression happened, but there is no one definitive list of the reasons of what caused The Great Depression. It was a mixture of events in the United States and outside of it that probably led to this period of time to happen. The main reason that everyone could agree on was the event of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Because of The Crash, it made people go on a bank run which made thousands of banks to close because they simply did not have all the money for all the people wanting to withdraw their savings. Because everyone was trying to take their savings out, most people were turned down by the bank and essentially lost of their savings in the bank. The banks were failing and because they had no more money left, this stopped the banks from having available credit for people to use which made matters even worse for the people. This leads people to poverty and were left with nothing. Because people were poor and were scared of spending their money now, it made people stop buying extra things that weren't essential to live. This was the cause of the unemployment rates during this time period because if no one was buying anything, then there was no reason to keep extra workers for things people are not buying.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of The Film Seabiscuit, And The Great Depression

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    America was not always in the right stand economically. While some assemble the change of how America did business in the 1900s, America’s economy stumbled down during the early 1930s. This downside to America was known as the Great Depression, one of the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the U.S. history. Films such as “Seabiscuit” captures an immense view on how the American people looked for a stress relief action, moreover methods to take their minds off the harsh times these individuals were facing.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression in "Cinderella Man"

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Depression is seen as one of the most sorrowful and desolate times in the history of the United States. This time was the longest period of recession ever seen by this nation so far. It lasted from 1929 to 1939, over ten years of complete confusion and despondency within the people. Many Americans were affected greatly by this tragic time and sacrificed much of their lives so that they and their families may have the chance to live. This act of desperation can be seen throughout the movie, The Cinderella Man, where a professional boxer, Jim Braddock, becomes crippled by the depression, both economically and spiritually. The observer can see this through the explicit cinematography of the movie and depiction of the Great Depression made by the director. However the director left out a key aspect of the happenings of the depression, the stock market crash. Perhaps, this catastrophic event was irrelevant to the plot and message of the movie, but it is important to the actual Great Depression of the United States. Furthermore, the nation of 2010 is well on its way to repeating history. There are frightening similarities between that dreadful time of the 1930’s and the present that should not be overlooked, or the United States might condemn itself back into that horrific state it has so long tried to avoid.

    Read More

  • Gender and Sexuality in Hollywood Films

    1553 Words  | 4 Pages

    Noted in Yvonne Tasker’s Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema, Goldie Hawn says this about women's role in the film business “There are only thee ages for women in Hollywood: Babe, District Attorney and Driving Miss Daisy” (1998, p. 3). While Haw...

    Read More

  • The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter

    1656 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin...

    Read More

  • Miss Representation Summary

    1350 Words  | 3 Pages

    These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).

    Read More

  • How the Movies of the 1970’s and 1980’s Reflected America’s Mood and Culture

    1565 Words  | 4 Pages

    Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,

    Read More

  • The Film "O brother, where art thou?"

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    The film O brother, where art thou? is set in the Great Depression of the 1930’s and emphasizes the struggle between the upper and lower classes by using a variety of cinematic devices. Through the use of these cinematic devices and comedic relief the realities of the Depression are viewed without creating a stark, melancholy, documentary-styled film. Examples in this film of these cinematic devices used to show these realities include:

    Read More

  • Women’s Roles in Classical Hollywood Cinema

    2563 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...es, in the eyes of the modern moviegoers, this position is no longer reasonable due to the strides already made by women in quest for equality. It is a reflection of how the past American society treated its women and draws to the traditional inclination of the Americans to achieve financial independence as seen in this post war film.

    Read More

  • Cinderella, Pretty Woman and Feminism

    1396 Words  | 3 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... Greenberg, H. R. & Greenberg, H. R. "Rescrewed: Pretty Woman's Co-opted Feminism. " Journal of Popular Film and Television 195605th ser. 19.1 (1991): 1-8.

    Read More

More about Depictions of Life in Movies During the Great Depression

Open Document